This invention relates to a transportable, modular building (“Building”) utilizing a shipping container as the building foundation and means of transportation.
In today's industrial environment it is common place to utilize the benefits of a lower cost manufacturing base, transporting goods to the location they are required; an example of this is found in the aircraft industry. The aircraft industry, in Europe and America, have components and subassemblies manufactured in countries all over the world. Once manufactured, the components and subassemblies are shipped, by means of shipping container and other transport mediums, to a central location where the aircraft are assembled and certified.
The shipping container has become a standard medium in the international (and national) transportation of goods and is amongst the most cost effective forms of national and overseas transportation. By design, the shipping containers are readily transportable and have a sound structural integrity.
As a result of globalization, new and used shipping containers are readily available in most countries. There are times when a company or corporation has excess shipping containers because it is not cost effective to return empty containers to their origin. Consequently, there are unused shipping containers throughout the world.
The current invention was developed from an idea to design and build a transportable, modular building” capable of taking advantage of a low cost manufacturing base for both material and labor, along with being readily transportable. The idea of having transportable, modular buildings has become an important concept throughout the world. Transportable, modular buildings can be placed in almost any location where there is a need for housing, offices, garages, restrooms, workshops, boat houses, emergency gathering places, shops, among others.
Creating Buildings from shipping containers have many benefits including cost, strength, durability and most importantly ease of transportation, with a world wide transportation infrastructure already in place. As mentioned above, there are many used containers available at a cost that is relatively low in comparison to conventional labor-intensive materials for construction such as timber or brick and mortar; such traditional construction may also require larger more expensive foundations. A quick search on the World Wide Web shows standard size new and used shipping containers are readily available and are relatively inexpensive, prices are dependant on location.
Standard shipping containers are governed by design requirements. For example, International Standard Organization (“ISO”) Specification 1496-1 ‘Series 1 Freight Containers—Specification and Testing’ defines design requirements ensuring that a shipping container is capable of carrying the required loading, within the dimensional tolerances with standardized pick-up locations and durable. The operational environment of a shipping container requires the container to be: fully functional in hot and cold temperature extremes, water tight, resistant to salt water, high winds, and abuse loading. Shipping Containers are inherently fire resistant because of their steel construction.
The basis for using a shipping container in the current invention was to utilize an international standard unit that could be easily shipped around the world on a number of transport devices. Another reason to use the shipping container was the ‘environmentally friendly’ aspect, a used shipping container if not utilized would have to be recycled, requiring energy to accomplish. The current invention will also incorporate ‘eco friendly’ materials and methods of power generation by using re-cycled materials such as recycled rubber tires for roofing tiles, recycled paper for insulation and natural resources where feasible and cost effective.
Generally, when evaluating a building, one looks are three criteria: structure (i.e. can it hold up to the elements); utility (i.e. will it serve the purpose it was built for); and aesthetic quality (i.e. is it pleasing to look at). Current shipping container designs appear to be structurally sound and serve the purpose for which they are made; however, many of them lack an aesthetic quality.
Information relevant to attempts to address the aforementioned problems can be found in: Minkkinen, U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,670 (Feb. 4, 2003); Wiley U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,614 (Jan. 13, 1994); Palibroda, U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,919 (Jan. 9, 1990); DiMartino, U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,829 (Jul. 15, 1986). However, each of these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages:    (1) aesthetically displeasing in that they look like shipping container, shipping containers attached to each other; or shipping containers stacked one on top of the other;    (2) usable space is limited to usable volume inside the shipping container;    (3) requires major modifications to the shipping container which may reduce the structural integrity;    (4) cost of major modification to shipping container increases cost of building;    (5) electrical and plumbing systems not self contained;    (6) once placed in situ, the shipping container structure cannot be relocated.
The purpose of this invention is to use at least one shipping container to form a Building; at least one shipping container will be shipped containing the main components necessary to assemble a Building. The Building will be shipped by water, land and air consequently, it is important for the shipping container to maintain its structural integrity; its integrity being one of the primary reasons to use the container. Therefore, another object of the current invention is to maintain the structural integrity of the shipping container by leaving the walls intact. Reinforcement will be incorporated around any cut-outs while the container is at the assembly location.
Furthermore, because it is envisioned that the current invention can be used in even the most remote locations or in areas where disaster has caused traditional electrical and water system to become non-existent, another purpose of the Building is to provide shelter that has an optional self contained electrical and plumbing system. The current invention is a Building using at least one shipping container that is aesthetically pleasing with optional exterior finishing. That is, it does not merely look like a shipping container that has holes cut into it or as a group of shipping container in series, parallel or stacked configurations.